The Day After Tomorrow
Freeze Frames
Article by Jody Duncan

When global warming causes a sudden catastrophic climate shift, storms, floods, tornadoes and other extreme weather phenomena are unleashed upon earth's inhabitants in director Roland Emmerich's disaster film, The Day After Tomorrow. Visual effects supervisor Karen Goulekas commanded a veritable army of effects companies and artists charged with using modern digital technology to depict the calamitous conditions and wholesale destruction of cities and recognizable landmarks with frightening reality.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Brave New World
Article by Joe Fordham

Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Kerry Conran, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a stylized and imaginative spin on the old Republic serials, achieved via an unorthodox approach to effects filmmaking. With remarkable result, artists at World of Tomorrow, the production's own effects company established to handle the task — and aided by more than a dozen visual effects subcontractors — relied exclusively on bluescreened performances by the film's principal actors, composited into backgrounds constructed entirely from digital models, photographic and archival material.

Troy
Bronze Age Ballistics
Article by Joe Fordham

In his epic film Troy, loosely adapted from Homer's The Iliad, director Wolfgang Petersen called upon effects artists across three continents to re-create the fabled city and depict its subsequent destruction. Led by visual effects supervisor Nick Davis, physical effects supervisor Joss Williams and makeup effects supervisor Daniel Parker, artists conjured expansive views of ancient cities, complex battle scenes involving thousands of warriors, and the arrival of the massive Greek armada — a feat made possible through the clever combination of live-action and innovative digital technology.

Van Helsing
Man Made Monsters
Article by Jody Duncan

Serving up a smorgasbord of creatures in homage to the Universal horror films of old, Van Helsing resurrects Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man, among others, to battle the venerated vampire killer of the film's title. Principal effects vendors Industrial Light & Magic and Illusion Arts — along with a dozen other companies — provided director Stephen Sommers with creature designs and character animations, as well as digitally derived 19th-century Transylvania locales, while Captive Audience Productions tackled special makeup effects.